Aden at 4 months

Stats

Weight: 7.5 kilos (16.5 lbs) - 75th percentile
Height: 25.75 inches - 70th percentile


Aden had his first check-up appointment here in Sierra Leone.  It was interesting for sure...
We get to Women's Aberdeen Center (where I had my pre-natal ultrasounds done) at around 8:30 am and get in line after about 25 other babies.  Its a first come first serve deal and they only give vaccines on Friday.  We had tried to go last week but didn't get there until after 11:30 and there was a huge line.  A little after 9 am, they started calling people back.

When it was Aden's turn, they put him in this little carrier and hung him up on what looks like a meat hook.  They use kilos here.  Since last year when we were here, they have recently switched everything to the metric system.  We used to fill up our gas in gallons (Emperial), but now its in liters.  But that is neither here nor there...

Afterward the weighing, we sat in a chair while the nurse was trying to figure out what vaccines he needed.  She gave him two shots... one for Pc and one for Hib.  Aden also got an oral polio vaccine.  In the states, he would be due to get the rotavirus and DTaP vaccine. I'm not sure if they couldn't figure out that he needed those vaccines... or if they are not a part of the 4 month routine here.  Aden of course cried with the shots... they seemed to go really deep with the needles in his legs.  He came out of it pretty quickly though and was smiling.



Milestones

Rolling Over- yay! he did it! both ways! He prefers rolling over onto his stomach and staying there although he still can't get one of his arms out from underneath his body.

All Smiles- Aden smiles all the time when we make faces and high pitched noises at him.  He also lets anybody hold him which we were really hoping for.  He may not pay them as much attention as mom and dad, but he's content being held.

Schedule:  Aden is still eating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours.  I've kind of relaxed a little on pushing Aden toward the famous 3 hour babywise schedule.  I find that my milk supply does better when I throw some 2.5 hour feed cycles in there.  I still do the 'feed-wake-sleep' cycle which I really like because I think it ensures he gets proper infant rest.  At night, I feed Aden between 10:30 and 11 pm and he usually makes it till 6:30 or 7 am.  Occasionally he wants to snack at around 5 am which I don't mind because I'm awake anyways (I'm a total morning person!)

Naps: This month we had to do the CIO (cry-it-out).  I thought we would get to skip crying it out with him because he would go down so well when he was swaddled right.  However, in the mornings we would find the swaddle wrapped (loosely) around his neck or covering only his face so we decided to wean him off the swaddle.  I think weaning off the swaddle was the main reason we needed to do the CIO.  It took one full day of crying it out at each nap, and then it slowly got better.  He still fusses for around 5 minutes for a few of his daytime naps.  Also, I am not a hard core CIO person either.  If he's crying I let him for 5 minutes... go in there, put his pacifier in, and calm him down.  Usually that does the trick... if not I let him go for 10-15 minutes and then do the same thing.  I know eventually I'll have to wean him from the pacifier which I am planning to do around 6 months when any need for non-nutritive sucking has diminished. CIO is really really hard but the benefits of a baby that goes down for naps and nighttime sleep easily are totally worth it.

Clothes: Still fitting into most of his 3 month clothes (when he wears them), but they are starting to get a bit snug.  It won't be too long till we upgrade to the 6 month clothing although I think its partly due to the fact that his cloth diapers add some bulk.  We're also putting in an order for some bigger diaper covers to be sent in with the next team. 

Aden gets more and more fun everyday.  He loves his merry muscles jumper and is now starting to grab toys.  What a blessing children are!

Dis Na Soursop

Ok, so my mom was the only one to guess at all right, but yes it is called Soursop.  I'm not entirely sure what they call it here. 

I am so sad to say this... but I did not enjoy this fruit :(   I really really wanted to like it but it had a very sour and off-tasting flavor.  I am willing to give it a second try though because this other expat told me she really liked it so maybe I just got a bad one.  Also, in South America and other tropical areas it is often used for ice cream and jams so maybe it just needs a good dose of sugar to be revamped into a tasty treat.

It is also known as a graviola and guanabana and is touted to be a potent cancer killer.  I'll let you all know if I try it again and like it! 

Wetin Na Dis?

Alright... I thought I had discovered all the tropical fruits they have here but I was wrong... Anybody know this one?

Thanksgiving!

A couple weeks ago I started making a list of everything I'm thankful for... but I'll post that in another few days or so.  But I wanted to get some pictures out of our Thanksgiving here Salone style!

Here is the pumpkin pie I made... The crust is 2/3 whole wheat... all butter, no shortening

This is before I spilled out some of the filling walking to the oven

Finished product

Some veggies I roasted underneath my chicken

My chicken that John so graciously carved... I used this recipe... its my go-to roast chicken recipe and always gets rave reviews... so easy!

Our table of food for thanksgiving... We had about 22 people including munchkins.

Its so funny when we put Aden in clothes because we have him only wearing his cloth diaper most days... he just looks so much bigger and like a little man.  And yes... John has a pirate 'stache... I don't notice it really until we skype with friends or family and they make some comment about it.  The pirate 'stache tends to spring up anytime he gets close to the ocean.

Momma and Son

A little Wii action for the kids (notice John is in there ;)

I changed the layout of the blog a little today so I could post bigger pictures... hope you enjoy!

Leaders 4 Life

I really enjoyed this post from our friend Chris today...  It puts much of our daily frustrations and hopes into words.  Thanks Chris!

My Two Loves

Aden loves his Daddy.  I worked a half day this week at the dental clinic and I come home hoping I would see a huge smile from my boy signifying that he missed me.  Instead he stares at me... I swoop him up anyways and kiss him all over.  Then, he looks back at John (whom I had taken him from) and gives HIM a big smile!  Oh well... guess you can't separate the bond of manhood ;)

Merry Muscles

I knew any children that shared John's genes would love this... and I was right!

Kind of wish they came in big people sizes!

The Poop Disaster Continues

I rarely write two blogs in one day, but today is special.  Or maybe not so special...

Aden-2... Mom-0

It happened again... seriously

This time it mostly wasn't my fault.  The boy had a diaper on.  So this is what happened.  I woke him up for his morning feeding.  I then plopped him on the bed (with a diaper mind you!) next to his dad while I made some breakfast.

A couple minutes later I hear John say "OH NO! THIS BOY POOPED EVERYWHERE"

I was thinking to myself "haha... nice try John, I wasn't born yesterday" I say, "you're joking right?" He says, "No I'm not joking, he seriously pooped all over the bed."

Seriously?

The first thought that popped into my mind was "uh oh, that was our only other set of sheets" the second was "we'll just wipe it off the best we can.  I'm not going to be able to blog about this second one though because people will think I am wacko for sleeping on poopy sheets"

But then my sanity returned and I remember that we live with another couple and they would probably lend us some sheets.  "Yay! I can blog about it then!"

Here's the deal... we have these special "overnight heavy wetter" cloth diapers that we put on Aden over the night.  They do a great job soaking up enough liquid but they are not as tight has his prefold + cover so they are more prone to blow outs.  And that is what happened my friends. 

But it wasn't me that dealt with clean up this time :) 

Actually I helped... and put on clean sheets!  Hopefully this will be the last post about our son's BM.

Something Borrowed...

John and I were very blessed when people gave us some gently used baby items that they had used for their kids.  And like most kids, Aden is non-the wiser!

Below is a boppy from Aunt Sally and Uncle Lowell (we added a safari cover just in case he spits up on it and it needs a wash).  It was so nice having that pillow on the plane to rest Aden in for naps and such.  Also the little mobile/play area is from Dr. Gabe (a dentist I work for here) and his wife Sada that I am good friends with.  They have a 8 month-old son Isaiah that we play with once a week.

He says thank you for my toys!

P.S.  We had gotten this Merry Muscles (the new and improved Johnny Jumper) from my cousin Amanda, but we forgot it when we left.  We were sooo sooo sad about it because Aden loves standing up on our legs and stepping/bouncing.  However, we just had a team of pastors arrive yesterday and they brought it so hopefully there will be some fun pictures and videos to come!

No More Nakie Time

It all started when I was trying to prove to John that Aden DID in fact roll over.

Well he finally saw it on Saturday.  John saw him on his side (he had been on his tummy) and then kick his way to his back. (thank you for all those people who said it does count!)

We are still working on the back to front roll however.  The thing is… these cloth diapers sure do get in the way of efficient rolling.  The prefold + cover creates quite a bulky situation and limits one’s range of motion.  So all said attempts of rolling over were done bare butt… or what we like to call in our household… nakie!

This is a very dangerous game with an infant.  So dangerous in fact you would have to be a little crazy to let your nakie baby on your bed without something underneath him ‘just in case.’

So, smart mama that I am, I had a prefold diaper underneath his bottom. 

And also like a good mama, we were practicing rolling over some more because she wants him to beat all the other little infants his age    to win a bet against John that he’d be rolling over by Thursday  to see the look of delight he gets when he rolls over by himself!

Then it happened.

Aden was on his stomach trying his hardest to recreate the roll he performed seemingly effortlessly on Saturday.  As his mama, I could see the look of concentration and effort he was putting into this roll.  I was so excited that he was so intentional about the roll.  But no… mama misread that facial expression…

Amidst all the practice rolling, the prefold was all hither skither underneath him and could not contain the mess of poop that came out of this little boy’s bum.  I tried to save the sheets but I was too late!

These are the days that I miss throwing dirty clothes in my mom’s high efficiency washer to have them clean and dry and free of mango fly larvae in an hour.  (Luckily we have an extra pair of sheets!).

These are also the days I will look upon someday and smile remembering what a gift my son is.

A Gem I Found in Scripture

I love going through scripture and reading a section that I have read many times before only to find a verse tucked away that I don’t remember seeing before and having it touch me so profoundly.

Today that happened in Luke 22.

Luk 22:40  On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

Luk 22:41  He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,

Luk 22:42  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Luk 22:43  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Luk 22:44  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Luk 22:45  When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

Luk 22:46  "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Jesus had encouraged his disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation.  Jesus, in anguish, asks the Lord to take the cup from him but says “not my will but yours be done.” Everything was normal and how I remembered it until I got to v 43.  God sends an angel in heaven to Jesus and strengthens him.  Jesus would need this strength to endure what he was about to go through.

Why I love this verse is because I know it is available to us.  When we turn to God in times of temptation or weakness and ask for strength, He is ready and willing to send an angel to us!

Amen!

Does it Count?

Maybe you can help settle something between John and I.

I was home with Aden the other day and we were having some tummy time on our bed.  I propped him up on his hands like I’ve done numerous other times, but this time something different happened. 

On his own volition, Aden begins to lean to the left.  His lean slowly but surely turned over to a roll.  He went from tummy to back all by himself! 

Does this count as his first roll? John says it doesn’t because I put him on his forearms but I think it should!

Let me know what you all think!

Rosy Cheeks

When you become a parent, you make tons of mistakes.  Some of them you won't realize till later in your child's life while others you realize quite instantly.  This mistake took about a day turnaround.

Remember all of us napping at the beach? Well, we took that nap in the shade under a big leafy tree.  The leaves didn't shade our bodies 100% so I put a light cloth over Aden's body and an umbrella in the sand to cover his face.  I didn't put any sunscreen on Aden because you have to be a bit careful with sunscreen and babies.  You don't want to use it too liberally on their skin if they are under 6 months of age.  When we took Aden out into the ocean we didn't put any sunscreen on him but kept him under the umbrella.

Well, that was our big mistake.  I had noticed when we got home that night that one of Aden's cheeks was a bit red but I thought it was because he was leaning it up against my skin.  The next day I saw that one of his legs was red too!  "Oh no!" I thought. "My poor apoto" (timne for white person)! "I ruined his porcelain skin forever!"

By the next day both had turned a more rosy color and he seemed none the wiser that his parents took him sun bathing.  Mommy still felt bad about that one!  Lesson learned: always always put sunscreen on for beach days!

Baby Beach Day

Yesterday was Halloween and our teammate Emily was back from upcountry.  She is hosting a team in a week.  Once the team leaves she will go with them back to Oregon to spend her furlough with her family over the holidays.

Gorgeous Bureh Beach!

A little bungalow we hung out in to eat and set down our stuff

Emily, Robin, and Chad

Owen and Anabelle building sandcastles

Aden and I hanging out in the bungalow out of the sun

Somehow I still got burned in a weird spot on my back and nowhere else.  Not sure how that happened!

Aden's first ocean experience.  Brought some shade for Aden!

The beach knocks you out so we all take a nap in the shade of a tree with our umbrella for a little extra sun protection for Aden.

Perfect way to end the day!